AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
25 
CONNECTICUT STATE FAIR, 
This commences at New-Haven, on the 10th 
of October. We learn from the Secretary, H. 
A. Dyer, Esq., that arrangements are already 
in progress, to make this an occasion worthy 
of the State. It is the first State fair in the 
land of steady habits, but it is in the hands of 
men who have had some experience in other 
fairs, and know what needs to be done. Fifteen 
acres are to be enclosed as a track for the horse 
exhibition. Large buildings and tents will be 
put up for the display of horticultural and man¬ 
ufactured products, covered pens will be pro¬ 
vided for stock, and every arrangement will be 
made for the convenience of exhibitors. The 
Society are particularly desirous to have a full 
display of the manufactures of every class. A 
large margin is given for articles that do not 
appear on the premium list, in the way of dis¬ 
cretionary premiums. 
AN EXPERIMENT WITH CONCENTRATED 
FERTILIZERS ON GRASS. 
What is the cheapest manure for mowing 
lands, is a question not easily answered. Pro¬ 
bably, no one fertilizer is the best under all cir¬ 
cumstances. We tried an experiment last 
spring, which has settled this question for our 
own premises. The lot selected for the trial 
was an old mowing field, laid down a dozen years 
ago, or more, and cutting not far from a ton to 
the acre. Four plots of ground, of four square 
rods each, adjoining each other, were measured 
off, staked, and numbered. 
May 3d, in a rain, we sowed 15 lbs. of De 
Burg’s super-phosphate of lime upon number 
one. On number two we sowed 15 lbs. of 
Mapes’ improved super-phosphate of lime. On 
number three, we put 15 lbs. of Peruvian gu¬ 
ano, that had been moistened and mixed with 
charcoal cinders for a fortnight. On number 
four, we put nothing, in order to show the na¬ 
tural product of the land. 
A week after the application, the plot ma¬ 
nured with the guano could be distinguished, 
at a distance, by its greater luxuriance, and 
darker green. The effect of the super-phos¬ 
phate was not very manifest. About the 1st of 
July, the grass upon the several plots was 
carefully cut, dried and weighed. Number one 
gave 84 pounds; number two, 70 lbs.; number 
three, 104 lbs.; and number four, 59 lbs. The 
following tabular arrangement gives a better 
comparative view. 
1 Date of ap- 
Date of 
Manure. plication 
Cutting. 
Area 
Nothing, May 3d 
July 1st 
1-40 acre 
59 lbs. 
Mapes Im. Sup. lime, 
do 
70 “ 
Dr. Burg’s Sup. lime,! 
do 
84 “ 
Peruvian guano, 
do 
104 “ 
It will be seen that the manures were applied 
in about twice the quantity usually recom¬ 
mended, or at the rate of 600 pounds to the 
acre. The return for Mapes’ Super-phosphate 
of lime was 11 lbs. of hay for fifteen pounds of 
the manure; De Burg’s gave 25 lbs.; and the 
guano 45 lbs. 
We had purposed to cut a second crop upon 
these plots of ground, but the drought has 
been so severe that it will hardly pay. We had 
supposed it quite probable that the effects of 
the super-phosphates would be more manifest 
upon the second cutting than upon the first, 
but now, (September 1,) the after-math is look¬ 
ing much the best upon the plot treated with 
guano. It may be that another season will 
bring number one and two up to a level with 
number three. 
It is quite evident that it will pay well to 
dress old mowing fields with Peruvian guano, 
but it ought to be applied very early in the 
spring, and directly after thoroughly harrowing 
or scarifying the old sod. We got here in the 
first cutting 45 lbs. of hay for the 15 lbs. of 
guano, or nearly enough to pay for the manure, 
which we suppose will improve the yield at 
least for three or four years to come. In a 
favorable season, we should have had at least 
a half crop at the second mowing, half of which 
should go to the credit of the guano, making 
71 lbs. of hay for 15 lbs. of guano. 
The super-phosphates may redeem them¬ 
selves another year. We shall watch the effect 
of these manures next season with considerable 
interest. 
Last year, on a red clover patch, super-phos¬ 
phate was more successful than guano. They 
were spread broad-cast on the same day early 
in May. We did not weigh the quantities ap¬ 
plied, nor the quantity of clover produced—we 
only judged by the eye. 
CULTIVATION OF TASTE AMONG FARMERS. 
It is to be feared that many of even the more 
enlightened class of citizens, have too little ap¬ 
preciation of the refined and beautiful in nature. 
Farmers who enjoy peculiar facilities for study¬ 
ing nature, and who ought to read her intelligi¬ 
ble forms with peculiar profit, too often look on 
forests and meadows as valuable only to furnish 
food for cattle, and fuel for fire. Nor is it strange. 
They who have to grapple with necessities, 
come naturally to think those things only use¬ 
ful, which minister to their bodily wants. We 
were well acquainted with a gentleman who 
among cattle, or in the field, had an admirable 
taste, but who was quite indifferent to the beau¬ 
ties of a flower-garden. We used to take him 
into the garden, and pluck some choice flower 
with “ See here, isn’t this a beautiful thing 
but he always smiled and said, “ What do you 
think I care about it, I had just as lief look at 
a dandelion and away he would go looking at 
the cucumber-vines. Now he had not so much 
an unnatural as an uncultivated taste. For the 
rich plumage and graceful flight of birds he 
had an excellent eye, and could listen to their 
notes with extreme pleasure; but he looked on 
ornamental shrubs and flowers as equally su¬ 
perfluous and useless. Like many others, he 
much preferred to see the ground adorned with 
ornamental beets and cabbages. 
But it is a wrong opinion to suppose the ex¬ 
cellence of things lies only in their utility. The 
Creator, it is evident, had something else in view 
when he made the world; nay, even loves beauty 
for itself alone. Else, why the delicate and 
varied hues of innumerable insects that float in 
the air; or why the beautiful organic structure 
of mosses and sea-weeds ; or the systematic ar¬ 
rangement of chemical atoms! These are invis¬ 
ible to us except through the microscope, but 
they are perfectly apparent to nicer perceptions, 
and no doubt, administer delight. 
But if farmers take delight only in building 
fences, and plowing fields, and rearing cattle, 
this, they should remember, can afford but lit¬ 
tle pleasure to their wives. Their appropriate 
sphere of action is, or ought to be, about the 
house. It matters little with them, whether 
their husband’s farms be enclosed with a stone 
fence or a hedge, whether it be stocked with 
Devons or Short-horns, but it does matter 
greatly whether her flower-garden be set off 
with tulips or twitch-grass. Her nice and deli¬ 
cate nature must have smooth lawns, and hand¬ 
some trees, and laughing flowers. Such things 
delight her more than all the improved cattle in 
Christendom. But if every time she looks from 
her window, her eye falls on piles of brush, and 
ugly burdocks, and aspiring pig-weeds, what 
wonder that she takes more delight at her neigh¬ 
bor’s house than at home. The truth is, her 
tastes, if reasonable, should be gratified. A 
neglected garden is just as repugnant to her na¬ 
ture, as a neglected farm to that of her husband. 
How often have we seen farmers’ wives digging 
up a little spot of ground with a case-knife, be¬ 
cause their husbands had no time to prepare it 
for them, or thought it useless. An hour’s labor 
would have been, perhaps, all that she needed, 
and might have been the source of how much 
pleasure. It might take a little time, and 
might not add a dollar to the purse ; but it will 
bring what gold can never do — a strong at¬ 
tachment and pure love between husband and 
wife. It constitutes the soil in which grow the 
finer sensibilities. 
Cold and selfish natures may laugh at these 
things, but we pity that man who can range 
God’s heritage from year to year, and think of 
nothing but granaries of grain. There is in 
waving fields a higher significance than mere 
grain. Grasping, miserly eyes may not see it, 
but it is there; and to those of high thoughts 
and pure conceptions, it speaks in the most for¬ 
cible and eloquent language. No; if we have a 
shadow of skepticism, we would sooner take 
one stroll across the fields, and over the hills, 
than read volumes of books. 
There is something in the dancing air, and 
bending grass, and waving woods, that ought to 
scatter doubt, like chaff, to the four winds. 
And farmers are just the men to study and ap¬ 
preciate these things. Alone to the beauties of 
nature, what lesson might they not learn from 
her spiritual teachings. How many things 
there are to subdue pride, to restrain melan¬ 
choly, to cherish reverence, to inspire love! 
Truth, and beauty, and humility, and joy, beam 
as visibly from every plant and flower as stars 
in mid-heaven, not dim nor speechless, but clear 
and eloquent as language and pencil can make 
them. 
If farmers would only study these things, 
they would find them imparting an ease and re¬ 
finement to the mind which lends a charm to 
every thing, and without which the best natures 
are rough and untutored. 
A universal applause is seldom less then two- 
thirds of a scandal.— L'EsPrange. 
When a man owns himself to be in an error, 
he does but tell you in other words, that he is 
wiser than he was.— Dean Swift. 
There are none that fall so unpitied, as those 
that have raised themselves upon the spoils of 
the public.— L'Estrange. 
They who have an honest and engaging look 
ought to suffer double punishment, if they belie 
it in their actions.— Gharron. 
